Kind of like a big-screen TV,
everyone wants a laptop; if they've already got one, then they want a better
one. Unfortunately, just as with big TVs, hard reality soon sets in when it
comes to pricing the high-end laptop you are lusting after. Most people end up
compromising with a midrange laptop that does most or all of what they want, but
without the utter sleekness that three grand will get you.

This fact of life is something
we try to keep in mind when selecting products to review here at PCstats. While
it's tempting to focus only on the absolute top of the line desktop replacement
gaming laptops of the world or on the ultra sleek ultra portable road warrior
devices, the less sexy 'midrange' laptop is the device that most people end up
actually buying.

Today we're going to take a
look a Gigabyte's G-Max N203 laptop in "Ruby Red", which fits neatly into
this midrange category. Features and portability are this 1.6GHz Centrino-based
laptop's primary strengths, but it can also hold its own in the office computing
department, as we will see a little later in the benchmarks.

Gigabyte offers two models in the N203 line, taking
the unusual step of differentiating them by color. The 'Ruby Red' N203 (which we
reviewed) comes with a 1.6GHz Pentium M processor and 256MB of memory, while the
'Jazz Black' version sports a 1.7GHz processor and doubles the memory to 512MB.
It comes preloaded with Windows XP Home edition.

We've tested out a
few of Gigabyte's products in the PCstats labs recently, and we've found them to
be generally excellent. Let's see if the G-Max N203 can measure up to that
opinion.

Features and Specs

Intel's Pentium M
processors have taken the laptop market by storm. It's been a while since a
mobile computer without one of these energy efficient little powerhouses crossed
our desk. Gigabyte has also jumped on the bandwagon, and the G-Max N203 sports
one of Intel's latest 'Dothan' 90nm process 2MB level 2 cache M processors. The
particular model is the Pentium M 725 which run at 1.6GHz.

The G-Max N203 uses the Intel
855GME chipset including the ICH4-M Southbridge chip. This enables support for
DDR 333 memory (through the processor itself does not take advantage of
this).

Intel's Extreme Graphics 2
chipset is built in, providing high image quality for desktop graphics and DVDs
and just passable 3D performance for older games. It's not up to the challenge
of modern games like Doom3 and Half-Life 2 though, so be aware that the N203 is
not a gaming machine. The graphics card shares up to 64MB of the main memory
space and provides both TV-out and VGA out capabilities.

As for memory, our review
model featured 256MB of 333Mhz DDR, with support for up to 1GB. The GMAX N203
comes with a 40GB 4200 RPM drive, though a 60GB drive is also an option for the
'Jazz Black' model. The optical drive, a Matsushita UJDA750, combines DVD
reading with CD-R and RW burning capabilities. Its specifications are 24X
read/write, 10X CDRW write and 8X DVD read.

The 12.6" TFT LCD uses a
native resolution of 1024x768 (XGA) which is about right for an LCD of this
size. The screen has a conventional aspect ratio, not a widescreen one.

The battery is an 11.1Vdc,
4400mAH Lithium Ion six cell model, weighing around a pound. Gigabyte claims 4
hours of battery life on a full charge.

Networking features include
the expected Intel 802.11b+g integrated wireless adaptor (common to most
Centrino notebooks), as well as a standard 10/100 Ethernet port and a 56K modem
jack. Other I/O ports include 3 USB 2.0 ports, a couple of IEEE 1394 ports,
headphone and mic jacks and Dual PCMCIA slots. A padded sleeve case is also
included.